CARY, N.C. – The University of Notre Dame men’s tennis team saw their team dual match season come to an end Thursday afternoon as they dropped the opening round contest against the Clemson Tigers 4-1.
The #2 team of Nil Giraldez and Chase Thompson were first off the court today with a 6-4 win, their 10th win of the season as a doubles tandem. After Malkowski and Dominko fell to ranked opponents in a rematch of their doubles match from a few weeks ago, eyes turned to court #3. Evan Lee and Yu Zhang found themselves serving from behind at 4-5, 0-40 before the pair saved four match points behind great serving from Zhang. Despite saving a 5th match point two games later, it would not be enough as the Tigers would take the match and the doubles point by a 7-5 score.
In singles, five of the six contests would go to third sets. Clemson extended their lead to 2-0 with the only straight set match of the day at #2. But the sophomore from Slovenia, Dominko, would get the Irish on the board with their first point almost 3 hours into the contest. He defeated the #95 ranked player in the country by a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6) scoreline. Unfortunately, it was not enough as the next two matches to finish at #3 and #5 would be third set victories in favor of the team from South Carolina and the match secured.
The matches at #4 singles by Jamie Corsillo and #6 Yu Zhang would be abandoned with both players late in the final set of their own.
Up Next:
The team will be represented by two players at the NCAA Individual Championships at the end of May. Sebastian Dominko and Jean-Marc Malkowski, who check in this week at #8 in the national rankings, will participate in the ITA Doubles Championships are a pair. Dominko will also qualify for the ITA Singles Championships for the second straight year. Last year, he won his opening match before falling in three sets in the second round. This year’s tournament will be held in Stillwater, Oklahoma where Oklahoma State will be hosting.
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Box Score
#47 Notre Dame 1 – #54 Clemson 4
Doubles
- #55 Vukadin/Smith(CLEM) def. #8 Dominko/Malkowski(ND) 6-3
- Giraldez/Thompson(ND) def. Abderrhman/Damm(CLEM) 6-4
- Mesarovic/Pitts(CLEM) def. Lee/Zhang(ND) 7-5
Order of Finish(2, 1, 3)
Singles
- #40 Dominko(ND) def. #95 Azuma(CLEM) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6)
- #102 Abderrhman(CLEM) def. Giraldez(ND) 7-6, 6-2
- Vukadin(CLEM) def. Thompson(ND) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
- Corsillo(ND) vs. Mesarovic(CLEM) 2-6,…